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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Wiesel, Zusak

For the TY Extended Essay project, two pupils have been reading books on a similar theme (an appropriate one, given yesterday's post) - one autobiography, the other a novel.

Dalton Tice has been reading Elie Wiesel's classic memoir Night: "This is the memoir of a young Jew who describes his experience of the horrors of life in Birkenau concentration camp during the Second World War. Wiesel was one of the few Jews who survived Hitler's effort to destroy his people. He vividly describes the atrocities he witnessed and leaves the reader with a sense of complete horror, as you realise the level of hatred the human race has fallen to."

And Carl Ibe has been reading The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak : "This book is about a young girl, Liesel, who moved to Munich during the Second World War. On the way, her mother and brother are killed by an Allied attack, so she now lives with her aunt, where she has to start anew. She finds new friends, and all seems to work out all right, until her 'father' brings home a Jew with whom she becomes good friends. Of course it is a dangerous thing, having a Jew hiding in the cellar. I think that this is a really good book to read, being funny, well-described and because it is impossible to know what will happen next. I chose this for my Extended Essay, because it is set in Germany during the War, and so it is suitable for my theme, Children in War."